Wacky Wednesday

Wednesday, what did we do that day? Oh, Jo got her tooth fixed that morning. What did I do? I had good devotions. I started to write the second article for second presby. (I think) I can’t remember what else… apparently it wasn’t very important. OH RIGHT.

Wednesday was my super scary day of Summer Splash. It was my day to meet the senior high and spring my project on them all at once. I had a hot dog and chili for lunch… now why I remember that beats me. Anyway, so we got to a late start and I felt like a complete dork rushing into the van where I figured “cool” teens would be in. I was shocked to find only three girls in the front and John in the back. (John is Geri’s 16 yr. old son so I knew his name already). I was really shy and just stared in silence at the scenery for the first 15 minutes. Finally after getting up my courage, I introduced myself to the girl sitting next to me. Her name was Sarah. I found out that she volunteers at the zoo and is super interested in wildlife. The two girls in front of me were Molly and Ashley. They all turned out to be super sweet. I think that if I can keep Ashley’s interest in the ministry then Molly will follow. John has to come since I need a boy and Ashley is his girl, so it should work out well. And Jackson, I believe, is Ashley’s younger brother.

He’s one of the middle schoolers that was helping out at the kids camp, but I finally connected him to Ashley. He started asking me all about parish nurses and getting confused. Lexi was cracking up at the two of us and told Jackson that she would explain it later, but I patiently got it down to the fact that if Jackson got a broken arm and was in the hospital, I would come and see him. Of course, later he figured out that I was leaving August 4th. He was like, “Wait I thought you were going to come see me. What if I get hurt in September?” I replied. “Jackson, if you end up in the hospital, you call me, and I’ll come see you.” Don't you wish I would tell you that? :) Sorry it only applies to really sweet middle schoolers.

I had them all laughing at the end. When we got back to the church, Geri said, Joveta isn’t here yet. What are you going to do?” I said,” Oh she’ll get here. I’ll wait out here” Geri was like… “Is that safe? What if a strange guy comes up to you?” I said, “I’ll do this HYAH” and karate kicked. Of course, Ashley had only seen the kick and she was like, "What are you guys talking about?" So I had to repeat the whole scenario and they all burst out laughing. :)

Wednesday night there were two incredible occurrences. First, I went on the porch to call my parents and discovered light streaming from the east. This would be a normal appearance… IF IT WAS MORNING. It hit me that the sun should be setting from the west, so I turned around and saw sun streaming from the west. Then I scratched my head and looked upward. INCREDIBLE. I saw sun streaming across the entire sky from west to east like a huge sunbow or something. I pulled Jo out to look and she said, “Lightning”. It was coming from the west. Then 30 minutes later, it was severe weather like you’ve never seen. Reports from the news warned us of baseball sized hail headed OUR WAY. Fortunately, (for roofs and cars) we only received quarter sized hail, but I was kind of hoping for golf ball sized.

Tumultuous Tuesday

Tuesday was pastoral care and staff meeting. We ended up talking a lot about our chaplain since her son is gravely ill. I rearranged my time to have her meet Coop and Marcia. Then we laughed a ton. Sometimes, you just have to have humor. We joked about hooking up two parishioners for conversational reasons (They’re both big talkers). Cathy says not to pattern my ministry after her, (because she’s so goofy) but I think she’s wonderful in many regards. At staff meeting they had a good laugh over my comment that my professor was coming up to make sure that I wasn’t being abused. :) Afterward, I got a chance finally to talk to Geri about going to summer splash and my “ministry to the benches” idea. She was excited about it and jumped right on board which made me excited.

Tuesday got super crazy in a couple minutes when the phone rang and family called needing help. They had a “young man” according to Jo (which made me laugh because he was like my brother's age and I don't think of my brother as a young man) who had a brain tumor and was about to die. The wife didn’t know how to tell the 5 yr. old daughter and wanted Jo’s advice. So she had to rush off in the middle of getting random computer stuff together for Marylie to work on. Instead, I had to put my brain to work and figure out how Avery works and print a million labels off.

It came together really quickly and nicely though. We started on Tuesday and I’m super glad a) Marylie was helping and b) I was helping too because it turned out to be a large project. I printed off 150 little write ups I created *(which I’ll post too) and then 150 labels. We put 150 labels on 150 little plastic bags in which we stuffed 150 little write ups which we cut more than 150 times to get the right size. :) It took at least two hours with the two of us. Then Jo came back and she and Marylie visited while I filled out my midterm report. Afterward, Jo and I went to visit our one person in the hospital. It turned out to be an hour long visit and we missed the ability to go shopping at T. for my mom. I was a little disappointed but figured I could bide my time.

* Here's what's in the little package

“Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus' feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.”
~ John 12:3
To cleanse someone’s dirty, smelly feet is truly an act of a servant. Yet, our Lord Jesus Himself did it. As servant leaders, we should do as Mary did and pour out what is most precious to us – our time, money, talents, and love. We are to be the fragrance of life and hope. Let this vial of oil remind you both of God’s sacrifice and our response of loving service.

The long awaited... well LONG post.

Actually, this post is so incredibly long. I'm going to chop it up a bit. Here's the week in review.

Sunday- "Of Monks and Men"

So, like I said, it’s been a whirlwind of a week. Exactly one week ago (and I can’t believe it was all the way back then) I followed Amy, the associate pastor, to L. one of the nursing homes/residential homes for the elderly. We were giving a small communion service. Well, Amy was, I was just there for the food. :) P.S. Not all nursing homes serve bad food. Although I couldn’t deal with fried chicken and mashed potatoes all the time, they had these blueberries that were out of this world. Oh and I tried okra. It was kind of like a pickle and very tasty. Who would’ve thunk it?

Anyway, Amy and I had a fun conversation. I think that she’s the most like me out of all the pastoral care team. She’s also the youngest :). She said that it’s kind of funny being a young female pastor and being so conservative. I guess most young females are liberal. :) I told her that I can from an EPC church… evangelical Presbyterian and she said, “yeah I think that’s where I’m going to end up”. Then we got into a great discussion about infant baptism because I brought up the reasons I’m not a member at our church at home. She’s so cute. “With Obadiah, I thought we were dodging the bomb, since when we came to the church he was a year old, and they probably thought he was already baptized. But having a child is different. (She gave birth to Mercy six weeks ago). People sent me baptismal dresses and keep asking me when we’re going to get her baptized. I don’t really know, but what my one friend said keeps haunting me. He said that he felt like his baptism was robbed from him.” Not to open a can of worms or anything... baptism is another one of those things that I don't think is necessary for everyone to absolutely agree on to still be part of one body, but that's just my opionion. I believe something and I won't change... and you probably believe something else and won't change... but I bet we'll both end up on the right side of Jersalem. :)

Another thing she said made me smile, “We (my husband and I) wanted to be nun and monk respectively”

Sometimes I think I’d like to find a guy that considered being a monk.

Bustle - The hurry kind, not lady's fake behind

It's been pretty busy around here. I have so many stories to relate! I can't begin much now because we're off to mass (outdoor quiet time for me!) and then Kansas City. I get to see the Flint Hills! I'm so excited... they are reputed to be gorgeous. In brief passing, I will note that our chaplain's son was extremely ill this week which made things even crazier. Coop and Marcia came and I had the most wonderful time with them. I did summer splash and met the senior high/sprung on them my idea for ministry to the benches. It was not easy. I don't like just meeting people and jumping them. :) But it turned out pretty well. I was doing karate kicks by the end of the trip and making them fall over in laughter. Senior high aren't as scary as I remember. Teehee. Also we went to the salt mines AND saw Keith Urban yesterday. I am overtired, oversensitive, and therefore extremely grumpy... but hopefully I'll be able to conquer it because we have a two hour drive ahead of us! I brought two books and earphones just in case I get a super bad attack. I must confess. I generally run away from things that bother me. Maybe I am a coward... or maybe I'm just fleeing the temptation to destroy people with words! :) James is right when he says the tongue is powerful. I used to have a huge temper. I still do... but I've tamed it considerably (you all nod thankfully... espcially my parents) I'll never forget when I threw a temper tantrum at my first and only large birthday party because everyone took home a balloon and there were none left that I liked. Did I mention I'm also really selfish. Then again... aren't we all. Praise God that He preserves us and keeps us salty. Yeah... those salt mines were pretty cool. I'll post pictures as soon as I can. Ok I gotta run.

Love,
Katie

I'm candy and he's ice cream....

Today was punctuated by excel spreadsheeting, printing (hot off the press) my newest brochure on prayer labyrinths, apples and peanut butter at 2:00 for lunch, and most of all... taking JoVeta's grandson Levi out for shopping and dinner. I fell in love again. There's something so uncomplicated about little boys... that I wish translated when they got older. He had me holding him by the hand and dragging him through the bookstore before the night was over. It went something like this....

I was bent over looking at some books and he pops up. "There you are! I was looking all over for you. I went back there... and then I came back here and it was like... there you were" (He talks very fast)

JoVeta "Ok come on... we need to go."
Me still looking at books.
Levi "Are you coming???"
Me "Yeah... I told you I liked books. You're going to have to drag me out"
Levi "DRAG ME!"



After that our conversation took a turn for the goofy. We were waiting in line for JoVeta to purchase some books and Levi saw candy. Then he started pointing at everything and calling it candy.

*Points at chocolate* Candy!
Yup...
*Points at a bag* Candy!
Maybe for holding candy... I amend
*Points at sunglasses* Candy!
For looking at candy I say...
*Points at the huge plastic divider in the entrance of the store* BIG Candy...
I laugh.

So when we walked out of the store... I point at him and say, "CANDY!!! Watch out... I'm going to eat you!" And pull some silly pose like I am going to grab him and stuff him in my mouth. He giggles like crazy and then pulls the same trick on me. *Points at me* ICE CREAM! Ice cream is apparently both of our favorite food. Quote - It's my favorite food, my favorite dessert, my favorite snack - End quote. (And according to Arielle it also functions as a vegetable. I think we're in business)

I'm doing better at stress. Today's biggest stress was what kind of creative gift can we make for the parish nurse conference (150 people) that relates to servant leadership. It's a lot harder than you would think... especially when there are about 12 crafts that have already been used. Bookmarks are out, seeds are out, nail crosses out, little medicine bottles with slips of "daily" scripture... out, magnets are out, keychains out... well you get the picture. So finally, I used an idea from Barnabas training. In the beginning, we had a service where we received small vials of olive oil with which we were anointed. For this case, I will write up a note reminding everyone of the way Mary anointed Jesus with oil/perfume. As servants we are to pour out what is most precious to us before the Lord - our time, our talents, our inheritance - you name it. And we are to be a fragrance of life and hope to others. I think it's a beautiful little reminder. Plus, it's actually useful. You can always pull it out and anoint someone who's having a really difficult time and say... this is a reminder of how the Lord of Heaven and Earth gave himself up for us... and He is faithful.

I also got one lovely email from Deanna, one snail mail letter from my grandparents, and one treasured phone callf rom Sarah. Today was yet another day of special gifts. :)

Love you all
Katie

Speechless

Ok... so fireworks ain't illegal in KS. I am entirely and compeltely surrounded by popping and fizzing and screaming. I'M HAVING THE MOST EXHILERATING and TERRIFYING TIME OF MY LIFE... SERIOUSLY . You have no idea! I'm absolutely stymied. Coming into the neighborhood we saw a firetruck... somehow I'm not surprised. JoVeta doesn't like all the noise... so I'm out on the front porch alone... having the time of my life. It could NOT get better... not if I had a boyfriend... not if my family was here... not if I won a million dollars... it's me and God... and boy is he treating me to something special! Ok well... maybe if my family was here. But this is the craziest thing ever. More crazy than the roller coaster! Gotta keep watching the show. I'll post some videos later!
Yours truly,
Owl eyes

Testing 1..2..3..

Hello world!
I think everyone fell off the face of the earth. I haven't gotten emails, my parents just went up north (out of phone range), michael jackson is dead... lol.

Well anyway, I want to talk about gifts. I think this internship is one streak of gifts. Tonight God dropped in my lap a gorgeous chamber recital. I heard two of the most amazing mandolin players - Mike Marshall and Caterina Lichtenberg. Sometimes I feel more like I'm on a honeymoon than an internship. The more I take time with God, the more He treats me. It's like He's always told me, "if you would just let me... I'll give you more than you can imagine." It's not really so much that He gives me anything different... it's just that I am more able to see what He's doing. I take less and less for granted. Each run is special because I know the sunset I see was a once in a lifetime special creation... with it's spectator (me) in thought. I don't mean to sound self-centered. I know that God creates sunsets for everyone to enjoy... but He does know that I'll be running along at that certain time, ready to see and appreciate. Music takes me to the heart of God. It is haunting, it takes you places, it can make you dream, weep, hope, renew. Those are things of God.

During the intermission, we walked over a bridge with beautiful lilies - the pink kind that spring up from the lily pad. JoVeta's friend handed me a beautifully packaged truffle. How did he know that I had been craving just that? He didn't, but God did. Again, I feel really spoiled. (I should... that was a $2 truffle!) Then we got stuck talking to another friend... who had a beautiful daughter who had just come from spending a year in Africa. I had fun just enjoying how beautiful she was. She must have had red hair but it was hard to tell because it was in delicate little corn rows. She was dressed in a white skirt, with a beautiful beaded belt with shell flowers, and elegant brown sandles and pretty brown earrings. It complimented her fair skin and freckles so well that it just made me smile.

God loves us so much. If we could just rejoice in the gifts He has created as much as He does... we would be so much more glorious.

Be radiant in God's joy today. Look for His gifts. They will literally just start flooding into your lap. That's not to say life isn't without its pain. Just keep your eyes open through it. Don't shut them... there's no time to waste!